Schilling estate sale draws shoppers to Mass. home

MEDFIELD, Mass. — One of the earliest shoppers at an estate sale held Saturday at one-time Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's former Massachusetts home emerged pleased with his take.

Bill Fegley bought two bathroom scales, $8 each, with this logic: Maybe Schilling had weighed in on them while wearing the famous bloody sock from the 2004 World Series when he pitched on an injured ankle.

"I saw the scales and thought, 'What a riot to give to my dad,'" said Fegley, who also bought a blue fabric shower curtain ($5) and a cow figurine ($5).

An estate sale company, Consignworks Inc., opened the seven-bedroom, 8,000-square-foot home in Medfield — on the market for $3 million — all day Saturday for what amounted to a giant yard sale. There were chairs shaped like baseball gloves; an eight-piece drum set; a Hummer golf cart; holiday decorations; artificial plants; candlesticks, glassware and cutlery; a rolling suitcase in which Schilling kept his equipment when traveling with the team; and a bathrobe of his that was said to have sold early.

"Does he have any camping stuff?" asked one shopper, carrying a long orange extension cord, while making his way through the basement.

Schilling has been named in a high-profile lawsuit filed by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. over the collapse of his startup video game company. The agency in 2010 approved a $75 million loan guarantee for 38 Studios to lure it to Providence from Massachusetts, but the company went bankrupt last year.

Schilling has said previously he invested as much as $50 million in 38 Studios and lost all his baseball earnings in the company. He has called baseless the EDC's claims that he misled the agency into approving the deal and said that the suit is political.

Schilling's wife, Shonda, said on Facebook this week that she decided to hold the estate sale not because they need the money but because they're downsizing into a new home and her children have outgrown many of the items.

On Saturday, Walter Mulock, of Medfield, found a Santa suit he wanted and immediately put it on, complete with the hat. The suit had a $50 price tag, but he talked it down to $25, Mulock said, since he was also spending hundreds on a bunk bed.

"It was something to do," Mulock said of the sale, adding: "I was specifically looking for a Santa Claus outfit."

An Associated Press reporter briefly attended the sale with advance permission from Consignworks, but was asked to leave by the sale manager, who would not provide her name. Medfield Police Officer Jon Cave, who was stationed at the front door, said Shonda Schilling did not want press on the property.

The Schillings bought the home from former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe in 2004 for $4.5 million, according to real estate listings. They listed it several years ago for $8 million before taking it off the market for a time.

Schilling, who works as a baseball analyst at ESPN, already auctioned off the bloody sock to cover personal loan guarantees to 38 Studios. It had been on loan to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum but was returned to him for the auction, where it sold this year for $92,613, less than expected.

Smiler Haynes, 80, goes to estate sales almost every weekend. On Saturday, she brought along several of her children to make it a family outing. Haynes said she was looking for a coffee table, maybe some area rugs.

She also confided: "I like to go through people's drawers to see how they live."